The Demi-Proxy
by KaiRonith57
Summary: A Ticci Toby is Percy Jackson story. Percy Jackson gets introduced to the world of Greek mythology already apart of another mythology, one darker and more prone to murder. It's unexpected, but damn if Percy, also known as Ticci Toby, can't make the best out of it.
1. Prologue

It started off well for the young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers. They loved each other and eventually had a child, a daughter named Lyra. She was beautiful thing, with her mom's blue eyes, her grandfather's blond hair and her father's nose. She was perfect in the eyes of her family. About a year later, things started to go downhill.

The first thing to happen was the father, Gabe Uglino Rodgers, getting 'let go' from his position as a salesman in a big company. The second was Sally getting pregnant. Normally, one of these incidences would be negative and one would be positive, but both would be mere bumps in the road of life. But that was not the case. For Gabe, this was the third job in the last five years. He had a hard time keeping a job to provide of his family. For Sally, this wasn't her husband's child. This was Posidon's, god of the sea's. She gave this information, baring the fact that he was a god, to her husband four months into the pregnancy. That was the first time he hit her, it wasn't the last.

After the news, Gabe started his inevitable spiral downwards. He slowly started to drink more and more until there wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't drunk. He took an interest in gambling, slowly spending the family's life savings. Then the baby was born.

He was named Perseus Tobias Rodgers. Once he was born, people felt that several things were wrong. He looked normal enough at first glance. He had his mother's brown hair and his father's sea green eyes. It wasn't until he was three that something unusual manifested in the boy. He would 'tic' every so often. It wasn't noticeable at first, but the more one looked at the child, the more it became prevalent. Sally took her son to the doctors to find out what was wrong, and they discovered he had Tourette syndrome. Sally understood that her baby boy wasn't going to be perfect, she had expected a few….problems that demigods usually had. But the 'problems' that the boy apparently had just kept on adding up. A year later when the four year old fell down and scraped his knee, he just got up like nothing happened. It was like he couldn't even feel it. After a particularly bad injury, she found that yes, her son couldn't feel pain, he had CIPA. It did't stop there, he was eventually diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and eventually found out he had a mild case of bipolar disorder later on in life.

As young Perseus grew up, he didn't live the happiest life. When he went to preschool, he was merciless bullied for many things, from his conditions to his name. The bullying never let up, even as he transitioned to kindergarten. He started to go by Toby from his middle name, but it didn't stop any of the bullies, if anything it made them worse, finding they affected him. The bullies started to call him 'Ticci' Toby because of his tics and would always laugh whenever he was in sight. He eventually pulled out of school and became homeschool because the bullying got so bad.

It wasn't much better at home for the poor boy either. His father had become an alcoholic with a penchant for gambling. He would come home drunk and would sometimes get violent after a drink or two. Toby, at the young age, understood that his father was not supposed to beat his family, so he tried to take the brute of the beatings to spare his sister and mom.

In addition to school and home life, strange things happened around young Toby. When he was small, a snake had somehow slithered in his crib and he strangled it to death, thinking it was his teddy bear. In first grade, he pulled the wrong lever at an aquarium, dunking his class in the shark tank. At one point he was stalked by a man, whom Toby claimed had one eye.

But he had a light in his world, actually two lights, his mother and sister. They were the kindest people he had ever met. They both stood by him through his struggles at school and later helped when he became homeschooled. Toby loved both of them with all his heart and couldn't imagine life without them. But these things weren't good for his mental health.

A few years later, Toby finally snapped.

His mother was driving Toby and his sister out to go get ice cream on a sunny day in April. Toby was nine and Lyra was eleven. Lyra was sitting in the front seat, chatting happily with her mom about school and her friends while Toby was sitting in the back, staring at the scenery passing by his window. At one point he swore he saw a man as tall as a tree in a suit, but shook it off as his imagination. Then, his world flipped over and descended into chaos. Time slowed down as glass flew everywhere, he heard screams and could make out small debris floating in the air. He felt something warm slide down his arm and when he looked down, he saw blood running down his forearm. Then just as suddenly as the chaos started, it stopped. Toby was sitting upside down, head pressed on the ceiling and seatbelt restricting his breathing, He tried to free himself only to freeze at the sight of his sister, his precious light, his pillar in the world.

It was gruesome. Her body was a wrangled mess, bones prodding out of her body in several places and her limbs sticking at odd angles. And her face, _her face_. It was a wrangled mess. It was so cut up from loose glass it was barely recognizable. There was blood squirting out at random places and glass embedded halfway in her flesh. The last thing Toby remembered before loosing consciousness were her dead blue eyes as they set staring, unseeing, at the road before them.

When Toby awoke, he was greeted to the sight of a white, florescent ceiling. "Oh good your awake. Doctor he's awake!" His mom's voice had called out to the right. He tried to move his body, but he couldn't. He had several casts on his body and he was too wrapped up to move. The doctor came and asked him several questions, but he didn't hear any of them, the memory of his sister's face played in his memory. "How is she?" Toby asked quietly. The doctor paused at his question. It was a moment before he responded. "I'm sorry to say it, but she's gone." Toby froze up. She can''t be dead he thought to himself. No way, she can't be. It's a joke, it has to be. "I'm sorry son, but she's gone," Toby broke down crying, he couldn't move, but he sobbed. He was never going to see his sister again. His light in a sea of black.

Later, he found out that while he had extensive injuries, concussion, several broken bones, his mom had very minimal injuries and they were released from the hospital a week and a half later when Toby could be moved from the bed. While they were there, Toby realized, his dad never visited once. Not once. He grew angry, so angry at his father. He didn't come to the hospital once, not even when his daughter died. Toby thought heard a faint whispering at the back of his mind, but he ignored it. As he and his mom walks back towards the house, Toby became aware of a buzzing sound. He looked around for the source and froze when he saw a being standing besides a tree. It was a tall, impossible tall, man in a suit. The part that terrified Toby was his face, or lack thereof. The man _had no face._ It's head was completely white and featureless. Toby was frozen in fear, he couldn't move until his mom called him name, asking what was taking him so long. He turned to respond, but paused and looked back to where the man was. There was nothing there.

He walked into the house, ignoring his father who had gained a lot of weight in the past months. He went straight to his room, not coming out until dinner. At the table that night, he ignored his food, not listening when his mother told him to eat, going straight back upstairs when dinner was over.

He fell into a routine. Toby would lock himself in his room, only leaving for meals and to go to the bathroom. His already pale skin turned to an ashen gray. At night, he would not get much sleep, resulting in dark circles under his eyes. The whispering in the back of his mind was slowly, oh so slowly, becoming louder. After a month, he looked outside the window and saw the faceless man again, this time under a lamppost. He immediately shut his blinds and jumped onto bed.

As the week went by, Toby's mental health deteriorated even more. At one point, he started to gnaw on his fingers, eventually drawing blood. That's what his mom walked into, him gnawing on his mangled fingers. She shrieked and put him in therapy.

Therapy was a disaster. It started off with the therapist asking all sorts of questions. He looked up to answer her only to freeze. Right outside the window was the man. It's non-face was right outside the glass, seemingly peering in at him. Toby screamed and fell out if his chair. He looked up only for the man to be gone. The therapist diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and gave him pills to take. Toby never touched them.

After the incident, he started to hallucinate things. Sometimes small things, like nonexistent mice running across the floor, or bigger things, like sharks swimming in the bathtub. It became increasingly harder for Toby to distinguish between fiction and reality. It became apparent to his parents too, and his father took the opportunity to beat him whenever Toby showed his face. He started to hear voices too, whispering in his ear, whenever he was alone in his room. Most of the time, the voices were too quiet for him to hear, but sometimes he could make out random words.

Time passed in a fickle manner for young Toby. The once hyper boy was reduced to sitting his room all day. Toby's memory started to deteriorate parallel to him mental health. He would one day wake up and have no recollection of the past days, sometimes the past weeks. One night, about a year after the incident, his bedroom door started to open. Toby walked up to see who it was, only for the door to slam into his face. He flinched in surprise and fell backwards onto the floor. He approached the door cautiously and opened it, but the doorway was empty. He crept across the hallway, and he heard giggling, as if from a little girl. He looked around to find the girl, but instead came face to face with his big sister's rotting face, "Why didn't you save me?" She asked, "Why did't you protect me?" Toby backed away as fast as he could without taking his eyes off her, then he bumped into something. He slowly looked up to see a face-less head starting down at him, almost nose to non-existent nose. Toby couldn't scream, he was frozen fear. He felt something in his chest, compressing and pulling him in all different directions.

The young boy shot up in a cold sweat. A dream he told himself. It was just a dream. He hesitantly opened his door on the way to breakfast and was relieved to find it empty. He heard his father in the kitchen, already with a bottle in his hand. The thought made him angry as he silently made his way down the stairs. The previous whispers in his mind started to scream at him. _Kill kill kill, kill himkillhimKILLHIM!_ resounded throughout his head. Toby whimpered and grabbed his head, trying to get the voices to stop. 'But I don't want to kill anyone' he thought back, willing the voices to be silent. But they ignored his wishes and continued their repeated chant in his head. Before he knew it, he was in the kitchen in front of the knives. As he looked at them, he thought about his father, how abusive he was, how _he didn't go to the hospital_. With the thought, Toby gave in to the voices.

He grabbed the knife and headed to his father on the couch. He raised his knife a brought it down, but his father turned in the last second and he ended up hitting his shoulder than his neck. Gabe cursed at the sudden pain. "What the fuck are you doing?!" he screamed at the boy. He tried to shove his step son off of him, but he was already drunk and disoriented. Toby didn't miss the second time when he brought the knife through his father's neck. But Toby didn't stop there, he kept on stabbing the older man. Bringing the knife down repeatedly. A feeling worked its way into his chest and he laughed, "hahaha haha HAHAHAHA!" That was the scene his mother walked down on, him laughing, stabbing her already dead husband. She screamed out in terror and ran, calling the cops as she ran out off the house in terror. Poor Toby didn't understand. He felt hurt and betrayed, as he thought this would make his mother happy. Numb, he walked towards their tool shed and brought out a hatchet and gasoline. In the house, he poured the gasoline and set it on fire with a match. He stood in the fire, still numb, watching the house burn down around him, wanting to die. He heard a buzzing sound and felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to find the faceless man, but this time he felt no fear. And so with black tentacles leading him, he walked out of the house and into the woods, a scarred cheek and a hatchet in his hands, the only remembrance from his previous life. Perseus Tobias Rodgers was dead. Ticci Toby remained.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The transfer student was….different for lack of a better word. For one, he was a very hyper kid. Always bouncing from one thing to another. He also looked different than everyone else, with ashen gray skin, dark circles under his eyes and a bandage covering the left side of his face. And then there were his…conditions. He seemed to have a lot of those. Those combined with his strange appearance made him an outcast at Yancy Academy.

He really only talked with the crippled kid, Grover. The two outcasts developed a sort of friendship throughout the year, both having problems in some way or another, but others weren't too kind to them. The two friends were bullied at the beginning, until one outcast put them in their place. They weren't bothered much after that. The bullies had found out that one Perseus Tobias Jackson had a violent temper that often ended up with injuries on one side. After a particularly nasty incident involving several broken bones, they learned their lesson, and kept away.

Toby, now called Percy, was annoyed to say the least. His boss, mentor and guardian of sorts, Mr. Slenderman, decided one day to send him to school. Sure, he knew he wasn't supposed to go out and kill anyone in the open, but he just couldn't help himself. The man reminded him too much of _Him._ So here he was, being forced to act like a, shudder, _normal_ kid for a few months. _Until he learns his lesson_ , Mr. Slenderman had said to him.

It wasn't all bad, Percy had to concede. Sure, everyone was mean, he couldn't read very well, and he was forbidden to kill any of his peers, but it wasn't _totally_ horrible. Mr. Brunner was pretty nice, even if he did show up right after Percy transferred in and always kept such a close eye on him….but that was probably the paranoia talking, he reasoned to himself.

He also had Grover. Grover was nice, and he was willing to listen to Percy rant about the amazing properties of fire, but he got on Percy's nerves occasionally. Percy could understand the stuttering and nervousness, but it got annoying sometimes, especially when the Voices always starting to _fucking scream in his head_ whenever Grover was around, and it was all he could do to not take his knife and _rip out his throat_. Besides that, Grover was a good friend. The school also had waffles every morning for breakfast. It was great.

Percy contemplated this, all well as the meaning of life, why all food couldn't be blue, and other Very Important things as he sat, tapping his knee, on the bus ride to the museum. Percy wasn't that excited to go to some boring museum as the only field trip of the school year, but he held the hope that he might see some old weapons or something. That might make it somewhat bearable, Percy tried to tell himself as he resisted the urge to unsheathe his knife and create a massacre on the bus full of screaming kids. He hoped Mr. Slenderman would be proud of his self control, and take him out of this hellhole.

It was almost over, Percy told himself as the urge to kill become almost unbearable and the Voices became louder, school wouldn't last much longer. He dropped his head into his hands. Usually if his Urges became too bad, he was allowed to go into a town at night and take out as many as he wanted, but here at school, he was stuck. He feared that he might give in and disappoint Mr. Slenderman even more. If that happened, he might even stay in school until High School. He shuddered. Percy heard stories about that particular hell from Jeff. He ended up inherited his hatred for school, as well as his colorful vocabulary, being the impressionable nine year old he was at the time.

Percy felt a hand land on his shoulder, and he whipped his head around, ready to take out his knife, when he saw it was Grover. Grover flinched back when they met eyes, but stuttered out that they had arrived.

The Museum was exactly like Percy imagined, he thought dejectedly as they toured through the Greek mythology section. He could tell Mr. Brunner was talking by the, frankly, unnecessary noise in his head, but he wasn't paying attention and something shiny could his eye, it it was a pretty gold color with marking that reminds him of- "-cy! Percy!" He turned back around to find Mr. Brunner and half the class looking at him. "What?" Mr. Brunner sighed and he heard a few snickers.

"I was asking Ms. Bobofit why these myths are important to know in real life." Percy was silent, he didn't know either. He could see everyone staring at him expectantly, and it was grating on Percy's nerves. The way they were looking at him, he could tell they were all laughing at his ignorance. The voices were whispering, telling him to make his classmates pay for looking at him like that. He was tempted to agree with them and unsheathe his knife to take out the person next to him. His hand started to creep beneath his shirt and his fingers curled around the handle to-

"Do you have an answer for us Mr. Jackson?" Percy's hand stopped and let loose a shuddering breath.

"No." He heard a few snickers and his hands tightened into fists. Mr. Brunner sighed and turned away with a disappointed expression on his face. Percy was affronted. It wasn't like the myths were real, that was ridiculous. But so was living with a cannibalistic demon and a faceless being, so Percy guessed he shouldn't be a hypocrite. He was so lost in his train of thought that Grover had to pull him along when the group started to move away. The rest of the trip passed in the same manner, and before Percy knew it, it was already lunch time.

Percy and Grover had decided to sit by the fountain to eat lunch and be undisturbed from their classmates. There the two friends were, happily eating their lunch, when their math teacher strode over to their area. Percy sighed into his sandwich, certain she was coming for him. He was proven right seconds later when she grabbed his arm.

"You are coming with me." She hissed. "We need to talk about your disrespectful behavior during the trip." Percy just rolled his eyes, she was always giving him crap about simply existing. He glanced over to see Grover looking at them with something akin to fear.

"I'll be fine G." Grover looked surprised to have been addressed. "O-Of course you will be. It's just Mrs. Dodds, right?" Percy grinned back as he was pulled to the museum. He was surprised when they went further and further into the building.

"What the fuck?" He muttered out loud as he was pushed into a back room. He didn't stumble, of course he didn't, but he was disoriented when he looked up and saw a creepy bat lady perched on top on a storage unit.

"No seriously, what the fuck?" The bat-lady looked down.

"Language young man." Was this his teacher? Percy knew Mrs. Dodds wasn't human, but this was something else.

"I have no idea what's going on. What are you."

"Give me lightening bolt Perseus Jackson." She demanded instead of answering his question.

"Lightening bolt?" Parroted Percy, because really, who has a reply for that kind of thing?

"Don't act ignorant, we know you stole it." She hissed, and Percy was like 99.99% sure that was Mrs. Dodds. He couldn't give her the full 100, 'cause nothing was completely true for someone who had Voices in their head.

"We? No wait- I don't even know what you are. And how the fuck would I even steal a fucking beam of pure energy?" This only served to anger the maybe Mrs. Dodds even further. He could tell she was tensing to attack him, so he did what any respectable Creep would do. Pull out a knife and goad the enemy.

"Bring it on bitch". But instead of attacking, like he expected, Mrs. Dodds adopted a confused expression on her face.

"What are you?" she asked, making Percy groan.

"That's what I've been trying to ask you! You know what? I don't care anymore, just swoop and try to attack me or something! It's been way too long since I've killed something and you'll make a great substitute." He paused, "Mr. Slenderman can't be mad at me if its in self-defense, right?" he muttered to himself.

"Proxy, I've heard of you're kind." The bat-lady hissed. Percy groaned again.

"I don't care anymore, you're dead either way." That made her screech.

"The arrogance! I'll kill you and grab the bolt from your body!" She leaped off the unit and flew towards him with her talons outstretched. Percy felt a bloodthirsty grin grow on his face.

"Now thats more like it."

Just as Mrs. Dodds reached him, Percy ducked. Then, quick as a snake, he plunged his knife straight up through bat-lady's throat, making her tumbled to the ground in pain. Creep and monster locked eyes, the former smiling, the latter with a shocked look in her eyes, before Mrs. Dodds exploded into a cloud of golden dust. Percy yelped and jumped away before any of the dust could hit him. He didn't know what kind of effects that dust could have on him.

Percy was suddenly very thankful that he brought the knife he was holding. It was special, as it was coated in a thin layer of Eyeless Jack's black eye goop. They had discovered that it could kill literally anything, and something told Percy that an ordinary weapon would not have offed the mythical bat-lady as efficiently as his knife did.

Percy sighed as he cleaned his spotless knife. There was no blood, and there was no screaming, just shock and dust, and even the dust was gone. He couldn't even start a fire with the remains. As Percy left the room, he glanced back at the room, looking as undisturbed as it did before.

He could feel Mr. Brunner's eyes on his back when he made his way back to the fountain. He tried not to read too much into it as he plopped down besides Grover.

"How'd it go with Mrs. Terr?" Grover asked, not meeting his eye.

"Mrs. Terr? Who the heck is she?" Percy asked, caught off guard, staring at Grover wide eyed.

"You know, our math teacher Mrs. Terr?" Grover still wouldn't look at him.

"Math teacher, don't you mean Mrs. Dodds?"

"Who's Mrs. Dodds? Are you ok?" Percy stared a full minute at his friend, who started to fidget under his gaze. He then let out a breathe.

"It was fine." He responded then dropped his head into his hands.

Dammit, he had another episode. Maybe he was too caught up with 's classes about mythology and that caused the hallucinations Ms. Dodds. This was not ok. He thought he had improved, that he was past the point of major hallucinations. He had consistently taken his medicine, so why….?

He took a shuddering breath in and wished he was back at the mansion with everyone. Where he had, not sympathy, never sympathy, but understanding. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and tried not to lash out.

"Are you ok?" Grovers voice sounded. He gave a weak laugh.

"Ya, just the schiz acting up you know?"

"Schiz?"

"Ya, schiz? As in schizophrenia?" At his friends blank look, he let out a sigh. "Never mind, it was a joke." He could tell Grover wasn't convinced, but some teacher Percy had never seen before called them to get back on the bus. As he passed, he eyed the teacher, Mrs. Terr, and wondered how he missed her the passed few months.

The bus ride back was tense between the two friends. Percy was in a horrible mood and Grover didn't know how to break the ice between them.

The rest of the year passed in the same manner. After asking around, Percy found out that no, Mrs. Dobbs never existed and yes, Mrs. Terr was always the math teacher. If Percy was anyone else, someone who didn't have the same problems as him, he might have been suspicious of Grover's hesitation when talking about Mrs. Terr, or the long looks both Grover and Mr. Brunner were giving him. He might've also overheard them confirming her existence in 's office late at night and seen the silhouette of a half-horse half-human. But Percy didn't experience any of this, except for the looks he got, but to be fair, he thought most people gave him long looks (as if they _knew_ and were going to come for him, which made him defensive and want to take his lighter and set them all on fire as he listened to their screams), but he was pretty oblivious to the whole thing.

Next thing he knew, Percy failed his exams and was waiting to take the bus to go back to the mansion. Of course the Mansion didn't have a bus stop, but as long as Percy was dropped off near a forest, he would be fine. Percy didn't understand the whole pocket dimension thing, but he knew that as long as he walked deep enough into a forest, he would always arrive back at the Mansion. Lost in thought, he almost didn't see Grover walk up right next to him. When Percy did notice (it was hard not to with the sudden screaming in his head) he greeted his only friend from school, who seemed more nervous than usual.

"Hey, so um, if you ever have any trouble or want to hang out or anything, just give me a call." And with that weird start, Grover thrust a business card into Percy's hands. Surprised at a business card of all thing, he held it up and read the words:

Half Blood Hill

Long Island New York

(800) 009-0009

Percy was surprised, he didn't think Grover was a rich kid.

"What's Half-"

"Don't say the name!" Grover exclaimed, making Percy very suspicious. He narrowed his eyes, but Grover wasn't looking at him. That was when the bus finally showed up. As I started walking over, Grover kept pace with me.

"Are you taking this bus to?" Percy asked, still suspicious.

"Y-yes."

"Great! Now I won't be bored for the trip!" Grover gave Percy a weak smile as they boarded.

The trip went fine up until the bus broke down. They stopped in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, with only a fruit stand in sight. Percy was tempted to just walk into the thin forest on their side of the road, but Grover was still with him. Instead, he decided to walk over and buy some fruit from the old ladies knitting.

As he walked up, the three old ladies watched him like a hawk, even as they continued knitting. That was when Percy noticed the strangest thing, the Voices in his head, the ones that usually whispered to him all day, were silent. That put him on edge as he approached the fruit stand. While the silence was a god sent, it usually happened when he was around any of the Slenderman brothers. That was very discerning since the brothers were gods of old. Right before he reached the stand, the old lady in the middle held up a big pair of scissors and cut a length of string.

He felt it instantly, the death of a soul. He stopped, suddenly very wary and apprehensive of the 3 old ladies at the fruit stand. Percy wondered what kind of being could kill with a snap of string. He didn't have a long time to think as he felt Grover, who Percy thought he left on the bus, grab his arm. He turned to look at his friend, who was staring at him with worry. Why was he looking at him like he just died?

"Did they cut the string?" He asked, unusually forceful.

"Yes…? Why?" Grover cursed under his breath and dragged him back to the bus in obvious fear. Percy felt lost, and when he looked back at the old ladies, they were gone.

"Grover, what's going on?" The boy in question turned to face him, but before he could answer, the bus driver announced that the bus was fixed and the duo was shepherd back into the bus by a pair of older women. After they settled back down in their, Percy turned to Grover, determined to get some answers.

"I'm going to ask again, what's going on? How did the old woman kill someone with a pair of scissors and string?" Grover turned to him, eyes wide in surprise.

"How did you know th- I mean, what are you talking about?" Percy wanted to pull out his hair in frustration, or shove a piece of wood through someone's throat.

"Please don't fucking lie to me Grover. I'm not going to say how, but I felt someone die when the old lady cut the string. How is that possible?" His friend let out a breathe and seemed to deflate.

"I can't answer all your questions now, I didn't think this would happen so soon." Before Percy could ask for some _fucking clarification,_ and dang Jeff influenced him more than he realized, Grover continued and asked a question of his own.

"Percy, when you said you felt someone die-" Percy opened his mouth, but Grover, in another act of having an spine, held up a hand to silence the green-eyed boy.

"I'm not asking how or why you could feel the death, because thats a can of worms I do _not_ want to open, did it feel familiar, like maybe, um, I don't know, possibly, could it have been-"

"Spit it out Grover."

"Ok." He took a deep breath, "Was it your death?" Grover looked at him with such pitiful eyes. Percy just stared at him with an 'are you an idiot' face.

"If I felt my own death, do you think I would be here, alive I might add, having this stupid conversation?" At least the curly haired boy had the decently to look sheepish.

"Ya, I guess that makes sense."

"Good, now can I get some answers?"

"I can't give them to you here, but since everything is moving so fast, do you think you could stop by my, uh, place before you go home?"

"Sure, if it gets me some answers. Its not like my guardian really cares what I do anyways." Grover looked at him strangely, but remained silent. As the bus stopped at another spot, Percy was struck with a thought.

"Wait- If the killer old ladies were real, does that mean that Mrs. Dobbs was too?" Grover's guilty face was enough of an answer. Percy actually growled, scaring Grover. 'As he should be', Percy thought.

"Do not _ever_ , and I repeat, _do not ever_ lie to me about thing that are real and things that aren't. Ok?" Grover did not know why his instincts screamed danger of all of a sudden, but he didn't want to find out. He nodded as fast as his head could.

"Good." And that was that. Conversation for the rest of the ride was awkward, and it was almost a relief to get off the bus. Percy's relief was short lived, however, when they got off in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but an old, rusty sign proclaiming Delphi's Strawberry Service in front of a stretch of woods.

The bus driver was, unsurprisingly, unhappy about leaving two middle school boys in front of woods, but Grover managed to wave off his worries. The two watched the bus drive off, and with it, Percy's hope that anything would ever be the same. His heart dropped further when he heard an inhuman roar sound from just down the road in the opposite direction from where the bus just drove off.

At the sound, Grover paled and grabbed Percy's hand, forcing him to run behind the apparent goat-man, as Grover had dropped the crutches and slipped out of his shoes to reveal goat hoofs underneath. Percy, for umpteenth time today, was just in shock as he was dragged to a large pine tree some yards away.

The inhuman roar sounded right behind Percy just before they reached the pine tree, and suddenly both boys were flying through the air. Percy had time to think, 'what the fuck is _that_ ' before he slammed into a tree. He immediately stood up and looked around. He saw Grover laying at the base of the tree he recently came into close contact with, unconscious.

He had exactly one and a half seconds to process before he was hit again and formed yet another intimate relationship with a tree. He also got a second look at the thing battering him around like a baseball. It was easily seven feet tall, with body that would not look out of place in a body builder competition. He wore no clothes except bright white underwear. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as Percy's arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and enormous black and white horns with wicked points. Percy recognized the monster instantly, it was the Minotaur.

Great, here was another monster that looked like it was out for Percy's blood. What is it, 'Let's kill Percy month'? But that didn't stop Percy from letting a smile grow as he reached for his knife. Or rather, he tried to reach fro his knife, but nothing happened. Percy looked down, and saw something white sticking out of his arm.

He scowled in frustration at his broken arm as he dodged out of the way from another swipe. Guess its time for plan B, Percy thought. He used his _other_ arm to slip the knife out of its sheath and brought it around to point the tip at the bull man.

"Come and get me ugly." Percy taunted. That seemed to make the monster mad, as it dropped its head and charged at the young Proxy. Percy had enough time to think, 'boring', before jumping up onto the head, and slamming his knife down the Minotaur's skull, turning it into golden dust. He sighed in disgust as he glanced down at his golden-dust covered body. At least there were no obvious drawback form the dust, Percy thought as he watched the wind blow it off his body and into the air behind him. Why are all the mythical monsters so boring? He wondered. The Proxy preferred cutting of heads than something this dull.

Percy grimaced as he got a look at his arm, seeing the white of the bone that pushed its way out of his forearm. That was going to be a bitch to fix. With another sigh, he made his way over to Grover. Using his only available arm, the green-eyed boy slapped Grover a few times until his friend gained consciousness.

"Wha-what happened?" The hoofed-boy asked, his words slurred.

"You got knocked into a tree and passed out, I fought the Minotaur and killed it, and here we are." Grover's jaw dropped.

"Wow. Ya, just wow, that's- that's amazing." He cleared his throat. "Let's just uh, get to camp. Yes, lets get to camp, them we talk." Percy shot his a strange look, but didn't comment as he half led, half supported Grover to the place where he was pointing. They arrived at the pine tree (and holy fuck, is that a dragon?!) when suddenly Percy felt resistance push against him, like some sort of jelly wall. At his hesitancy, Grover gave him a frown, but Percy pushed through, finally getting a look at Grover's most likely rich home.

It wasn't a mansion, like Percy expected, but a goddamn camp. He was immediately struck by the brightness of it and saw that it was full of children. At that moment, Percy just knew was fucked.

" _Percy_ _is that bone_?!"

Yup, he was fucked alright.


	3. Chapter 2

Percy didn't have the to marvel at the camp that suddenly appeared, as Grover was still hanging on him like a lifeline.

"Where to buddy?" He asked his semiconscious friend. Said friend managed to point to the big white house at the top of the hill before letting his arm drop. When Percy tried to ask for conformation, he didn't get a response, letting him know that Grover had fallen unconscious again. He just sighed and headed over to the big house.

On the way over, he saw some of the campers stop and point at them, whispering to their friends. Percy tried to ignore them, but the Voices became louder the further he walked into the camp. He also tried to ignore some of the decidedly not normal things, like the weapons the kids held, or the horse with- nope not going there.

After what felt like forever, the due finally reached the big house. There, Percy was hit with a dilemma. He couldn't move his broken arm, and his other was supporting Grover. He eyed the hoofed teen, then the hill he had to drag Grover down, then the door and dropped him. Percy raised his good arm to knock, but the door opened before he got the chance.

Standing there in all his glory, was Br. Brunner. Except, Mr. Brunner couldn't stand, and he definitely didn't have a horse for a body. It was a hallucination, Percy decided in the three seconds they stared at each other. Just like Mrs. Dobbs, except, Percy reasoned with himself, Mrs. Dobbs was real. Also, Percy continued, he just fought the Minotaur. But Mr. Brunner was in a wheelchair for the whole year! Percy shot right back. And I live with ghosts, my point is? Percy grumbled under his breath, he hated when he proved himself wrong.

"Mr. Jackson, I wasn't expecting to see you this early." Instead of commenting on that remark Percy just said what came to mind.

"Well, Me and Grover were just attacked by the Minotaur, and I don't know what's going on, but Grover's unconscious and I broke my arm and I may pass out from blood loss in a few minutes because wow, I'm just now seeing it and I did not realize I lost this much blood."

To reiterate his point, Percy grabbed his broken arm and held it up to Mr. Brunner, who was already looking worried. Mr. Brunner, the sensible adult he was, quickly bent down and picked up Grover. He looked Percy in the eyes and told him, "Follow me," before turning around and heading into the house.

They made it into an infirmary and Mr. Brunner placed Grover on the first bed in the room and instructed Percy onto the one beside it.

"Stay here," Br. Brunner ordered. "A healer will be here as soon as possible." And with that, the half horse- half man left.

Percy just stared at his broken arm, mesmerized by the way the blood flowed from his arm and dripped to the floor. He realized that he was really sleepy. As he stared as his arm, he could feel his eyelids drooping, he was just so tired. A few minutes of shut-eye wouldn't hurt, would it? As he sunk into oblivion, he heard frantic voices yelling around him in a panic. He thought he heard someone tell him to stay awake, but it could have been him dreaming. The last thing he saw was blond hair and, eyes? But Percy was too far gone to think coherently, and with that, he fell asleep.

—

Toby awoke with a groan. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the gray ceiling of his room, but instead was greeted a green meow with rolling hills in the background. And he didn't wake up in a bed, but rather in a chair on a porch.

He was confused, as the mansion had neither color nor a porch in its front yard, before the events of the previous day (or days? He didn't know), rushed back in. That's right, he was Percy right now, not Toby. He was in a camp full of kids with weapons and his teacher was half-horse. He just fought a mythical monster and broke his arm. Looking down at said arm, he saw it was completely healed. And wasn't that just strange? Even with all the supernatural happenings in the mansion, it usually took at least a week to heal broken bones.

He heard someone clear their throat, and when Percy turned, he saw Grover leaning on the side of the porch with a box in his hands. He couldn't help it, he really couldn't, but Percy felt his jaw drop.

"I, uh, here." Grover shoved the box into Percy's hands.

"You're part goat," Percy responded bluntly. And his friend was. Instead of human legs, Grover had was looked like the legs of a goat, with fur and all.

"Actually, I'm a satyr. But I just wanted to thank you. You saved my life, and It was the least I could do, so I went back to the hill and retrieved it for you." That was when I looked down at the box Grover gave me. In it was a horn that looked strangely familiar.

"Was this from the-"

"Don't say his name!" Grover exclaimed. Seeing Percy's look, the satyr elaborated. "Names hold power here."

"And where, exactly, is here?"

"Follow me, if you can walk that is, and your questions will be answered." A wave of dizziness hit the young Proxy as he attempted to stand up, but he waved off Grover's concern.

"I'm fine. Now lead the way goat boy." Said goat boy just rolled his eyes and walked off the porch. Before Percy could follow, Grover turned around and called up to him, "Don't forget to drink the glass beside you."

Percy turned and, ah yes, the was a glass of what looked like apple juice sitting on a table beside the chair he awoke in. Instead of bringing the drink with him, Percy decided to chug the whole glass down at once. He set the box down and grabbed the cup, bringing it to his mouth and downing it all in one go. It went down a little too quickly and the liquid went down the wrong pipe, even as he started to feel warm. Percy immediately started coughing after he swallowed it all, and Grover rushed back to the porch.

"Why did you drink it all at once?!" He exclaimed.

"So I-cough-didn't have to-cough-carry it!" Percy grumbled back in between coughing fits. Once Percy's fits died down, the duo carried onward to where ever Percy was supposed to go to get some answers.

The walked around the side of the house and when they turned the corner, Percy got his second look at the camp. It was pretty cool, he had to admit, with the amphitheater, open-air pavilion and sweet looking buildings. It was unlike any summer camp Percy had ever seen pictures of. Grover had to stop him from gawking by pulling him along to the front of the house.

"C'mon, Chiron and Mr. D are waiting." Percy noticed Grover pulling him towards two men sitting on the from porch playing cards, with a familiar-looking blond-haired girl leaning on the railing beside them.

As they got closer Percy's head was silent. Just like with the old ladies, the Voices in his head stopped, like they were never there in the first place. Cautious, Percy made his way to the table where the two men sat. Grover pointed to the man in an ugly Hawaiian shirt who looked like he could out-gamble Him.

"That's Mr. D, the camp director, please be polite, you do not want him mad. Beside him is Annabeth, she's just a camper, but she's been here longer than most." As the girl turned to face them, Percy finally knew why she felt familiar. She was in his dream, feeding him pudding that tasted good, almost like popcorn, and asking weird questions. Percy shrugged, guess that wasn't a dream then.

"And that's Chiron, but you already know him…" Huh, he did? How would he know the man in the wheelchair and tweedy jack- oh.

"Hi Mr. Brunner, sir." He called out in a greeting to his former teacher, who looked happy to see Percy.

"Ah, hello Mr. Jackson. I hope you're feeling better? You were in quite a bad shape when you arrived at camp."

"Um, yes sir. I feel much better."

"Ah, good, now we have four for pinochle." He offered Percy a chair right beside Mr. D, who looked at him with bloodshot eyes. There was a moment, when their eyes met, that Percy, no, Ticci Toby, was painfully reminded how far from sanity he was. Mr. D's eyes seem to fade into the background, and the Voices came roaring back, no longer quiet in the back of his mind. Toby almost cried out, he almost whipped out his knife and let loose on the person next to him, he almost collapsed, he almost-no, Toby did not know what he almost did, because, in the next moment, the voices were silent again, and he was left staring into glowing purple eyes. Glowing eyes that were currently glaring at him. Glowing eyes that were attached to a being of indefinite power. Great.

"Percy, was it?" The being with glowing eyes, Mr. D, Tob-Percy reminded himself, sounded almost friendly, a complete contrast to the look in his eyes.

"Y-yes, sir." Percy's Tourettes acted up at that moment, causing him to tic. This somehow made Mr.D's eyes even colder. The man then stood up and slung an arm around the Proxy, as if they were old friends. Percy didn't know why, but he felt like he was beside in one of his rare moments of rage. A feeling of terror crept down his spine at the thought.

"Let me show you around the Big House and give you the customary welcoming speech."

"But Mr. D, there is no welcoming speech," Annabeth spoke up for the first time, but she was ignored by the man in the Hawaiian shirt. The three just watched, with jaws slightly agape, as their director personally welcomed a camper. An event that had never happened before.

Inside the house, something entirely different was going on. Once the duo stepped through the threshold of what looked like an office, Mr. D grabbed Percy by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Percy was too shocked to do anything at first but started to claw at the man's hand when the air wouldn't enter his lungs.

"Why is one of your kind here? What is your goal, or rather, who is your goal? Tell me!" He reiterated his point by slamming Percy back into the wall.

"C-can't b-rea-the" The Proxy managed. The man sneered and threw him into a corner. His back hit the wall, and he crumpled into a heap on the ground.

"Tell me, Proxy, before I do something that I won't regret, but you most definitely will." Percy froze at his words.

"I don't know what you mean." Percy shrank underneath the beings' glare, suddenly uncaring that the man knew about his status to Slernderman. "I don't even know what's going on." He tried elaborating.

"Go on." Percy gulped, then continued.

"Um, I was being punished you see, for, uh, killing someone in broad daylight, after he told me, specifically not to do it. But I couldn't help myself. He was too like Him, you know, and his whole demeanor made me mad, and I was just brought back to when He was still alive and I kinda grew really mad and-"

"Stop." And Percy shut up. "Tell me how you go to this camp, without going on a useless tangent. Don't waste my time or I'll turn you into a dolphin and sent you to the sharks."

"What, really? You can turn me into a dolphin? That's so cool! I've always liked dolphins for some reason, they're just so cool, you know? How do you have the power to turn people into dolphins? What are you? Can you turn people into other animals-"

"Just get on with it," Mr. D said, suddenly exhausted from interacting with the boy in front of him.

"Ok, ok. So I was at school, right? Then I met Grover and Mr. Brunner, and we went to a museum and I fought a bat-lady who was somehow my math teacher, and she said something about a lightning bolt-"

"Wait, lightning bolt?" Mr. D sounded somewhat strangled.

"Um, yes? I think?"

"did she say anything else?" he demanded.

"I think she mentioned somewhere that I stole it? How do you even steal a lightning bolt? Aren't they just beams of electricity that shoots out from the clouds?"

"She asked you if you stole it?"

"Yes?"

Mr. D started to pace back and forth, muttering to himself. Percy couldn't hear him, but he did make out words like bad, prophecy, and I don't get paid enough for this. Mr. D suddenly stopped and looked at Percy. "Continue." Thrown off by the sudden change in mood, Percy took a second before he remembered where he left off.

"Well, I tried to kill the bat lady, but she turned into gold dust instead, so I kinda thought I was hallucinating the whole thing, which does happen sometimes. Then, we went back to school, but no Mrs. Dobbs wasn't there anymore, and no one remembered her. And I thought I hallucinated her the whole time, which really scared me. Then Grover mentioned Mrs. Dobbs by accident and we rode a bus together, and I thought we were going to his big fancy house, but then we met three old women who killed someone by cutting a string and I somehow fought the Minotaur, and then I'm here."

Mr. D pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So what you're saying is that you fought a Fury, the met the Fates, then fought the Minotaur, and now you're here?"

"Uh, I guess? I don't know what the first two things are, but I also don't know what I saw. Can you please explain what's going on? I'm very confused?"

Mr. D gave a bark of laughter. "You're confused? Well so am I! Mythologies should not mix, yet here you are!"

"Mythologies, what?"

Mr. D waved off his question. "You're a Proxy, right? Underling to one of the various old gods of madness, killing, murder, whatever." Percy hesitantly nodded. "Well, I'm a different type of god, part of Greek mythology. And it seems you are too." Percy's jaw dropped.

"You're a god?! Am I a god?"

"No, of course not. You're a child of one, a demigod."

"Of course, a demigod, that answer was obviously the correct one."

"I don't need your sass, boy."

"But how do you know? This all could have been a big mistake."

"That's what I want to believe, especially since you are already part of a different mythology, but that doesn't seem to be the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Since you seem to be in the middle of things, I guess I can tell you. It' not like you'll care anyway."

"Well…."

"Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen and everyone thinks you are the culprit, apparently. "

"WHAT?! I think I need a little more context here. What is Zeus's lightning bolt?"

"But who's the parent?" Mr. D muttered. He turned to Percy. "Boy, mother or father?"

"What?"

"It's a simple question. Is it your mother or father that left before you were born?"

"Uh, father. Well, I have-had-a stepfather, but I guess he doesn't count."

Mr. D cursed in another language. Percy wisely chose not to comment on it,

"Not again. After that lightening brat, they should have-" He stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at Percy. "Do you have any particular…things you feel a sort of attraction to?" Percy gave him a deadpan stare. "What the fuck does that even mean?" Mr. D let out an annoyed breath.

"Like, do you feel a strong connection with storms, or water, or death?" Mr. D regretted asking as soon as the woods left his mouth.

"Now that you mention it, I do feel a strong connection with death. I particularly like it when I see the light leaves someone's eyes, especially, especially if they're covered in blood, with a look of terror written across their face." Mr. D just sighed in disappointment.

"Why do I even bother? That's not what I mean, so let's just drop the topic altogether." He took a deep breath as if readying himself for his next sentence.

"I guess, you have to stay." It sounded like that sentence physically pained the god."But-"

"But?"

"Don't interrupt me, brat." Percy put his hands up in surrender.

"There are rules that you have to follow. 1: No killing, what so ever-"

"Even if they try to kill me?"

"What did I say?!" Mr. D glared at the boy, who was thoroughly cowed by the god.

"No interruptions." He muttered.

"Good. Now as I was saying: No killing in camp, at all. Demigods that is. Monsters, I could care less. Wait, no- No killing at all in camp. That includes demigods, satyrs, nymphs, any of the creatures living here." Percy pouted. "Don't give me that look, brat. Next, no maiming. Similarly to the last rule, no permanently injuring any of the residences of this camp. Lastly, never, ever reveal yourself. No one can ever know what you really are. Got it?"

"No. What if someone tries to kill me inside the camp?"

"Then fight back."

"But you said-"

"I said no killing or maiming. I said nothing about fighting. There will be weapon training and whatnot, which will inevitably involve fighting." Mr. D grumbled the last part.

"That sounds fun!" Percy brightened.

"Which you are banned from now on."

"Killjoy." The boy's mood dropped faster than Mr. D expected. "But how am I supposed to fight monsters if I cannot practice fighting?"

"Practice on your own. Figure it out yourself."

"Fine," Percy grumbled. "Is that all?"

"Do you want more rules?" Mr. D raised an eyebrow.

"No! I'm good."

"Then repeat after me: I swear on the river Styx that I will not kill or maim any residence of the camp, nor will I reveal the existence of what I really am."

"Hold up, what is this River Styx and why am I swearing on it?" Mr. D lost his patients and slammed Percy on the wall again. "Just say those words!" He growled out, purple eyes swirling dangerously.

"Ok!" Percy would have put his hands up in surrender if he could. "I swear on the River Styx that I will not kill or maim any residence of the camp, nor will I willingly reveal the existence of what I really am." Thunder boomed outside, making Percy flinch in surprise.

"That wasn't what I said!" Mr. D growled, grabbing the boy's neck.

"Yes, it was! And I don't want anything bad to happen to me if someone uses truth serum or something to force me to reveal what I am!" Mr. D let go of Percy's neck.

"That's fair, I guess." He grumbled, obviously upset that Percy changed the oath.

"Now that that's over with, let's go back outside. I don't want to miss my game." Percy was thrown slightly off by the change in behavior but shrugged and followed him back outside. It would be hypocritical to judge, after all, he was no better. Percy took one long look at the retreating gods' back, wondering what he got himself into. Well, he reasoned, it's better than being stuck at the mansion.

"C'mon brat. I won't have you delay my game any longer."

"Coming!"


End file.
